Green is Good!

Dr. Seuss had green eggs and ham ...Jefferson International Academy has lettuce, kale, spinach or broccoli all mixed in our green drinks. JIA served green drinks, which were rejected and now are an anticipated part of what we do.

What improvements have you seen at your school?

At the beginning of the school year, students were offered a green drink as a taste test by JIA Healthy Kids Club Council. The green drink was met with much resistance, and, in fact, several parents phoned the school to inquire about what we were feeding their children. Students had gone home and reported that during the lunch hour, they were offered a â€œgreen drink,â€ which tells us they were discussing this event with their parents. The Council meets on a regular basis to talk about healthy choices, healthy goods, and ways to incorporate more activities into our day. An area of focus has been making healthy drink choices. Our Play, Promoting Healthful Choices, has led us to explore the variety of choices in smoothies. A challenge was offered to our Council to give up a non-healthy choice and replace it with an alternative. The underlying idea was to begin to develop a new healthy habit. The items given up included such things as chips, Coke, candy and sports drinks. Leadership at the Academy supported this by offering a variety of smoothies. This challenge resulted in students realizing that they could give up the item and make better choices. Since that time, JIA has offered an assortment of smoothies to students. To the mix, we added a variety of fruits, vegetables and seeds. Our new thinking - go green!